Wall Street opens modestly lower despite lack of fresh developments in Middle East

• All 11 major sectors of S&P 500 stay in red in early trade.
• Energy shares slide as oil prices start to pull away from highs.

Wall Street's main indexes started the day modestly lower as investors seem to be staying on the sidelines while assessing the latest developments surrounding the US-Iran conflict. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.45% on the day while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were erasing 0.4% and 0.35%, respectively.

Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told CNN that Iran will "respond proportionately" to the killing of General Soleimani and called the US' action an act of "state terrorism."

Among the 11-major S&P 500 sectors, which are all in the negative territory, the Energy Index is erasing 1% as investors seem to be booking their profits following crude oil's rally.

In the meantime, the data from the US on Tuesday showed that the international trade deficit narrowed to $43.1 billion in November from $46.9 billion in October but was largely ignored by the market participants.